Improvement in corn-planters



M. BATES.

Seed-Planter.

Patented Sept 23; 1856 N-PETERS. FHDTD-LITHOGRAFHE WASHINGTON D C c UNITED ST TES PATENT OF ICE.

MALE-NDER BATES, OF CARLTON, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENTIN CORN-PLANTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 15,75 5, dated September 23, 1856.

, To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MALENDER BATES, of Carlton, in the county of Orleans, in the State of New York, have invented a new and useful machine for planting corn to range in rows both ways in hills any desired distance apart;

and 1 do declare that the following is a full,

covering one halfof the wheel; Fig. 5, a view of the inside of the back part of the hopper and brush and staple or button; Fig. 6, aview of the wheel inverted; valve.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, 1 will proceed to describe the construction and operation.

I construct the frame-work ofmy corn-planter on the most approved plan of a corn or shovel plow, with a hopper a little above the beam, with one end of the bottom resting on a shoulder on the front side of the stock, near the top, the other end on the beam one foot from the stock.

For conveying the seed from the hopper to the ground, I make a tube of the stock by boring an inch hole down through from the shoulder-"on which the bottom of the hopper rests, coming out atthe bottom near the back side,

"as shown at a, Fig. 2, in the accompanying drawings. I secure the beam to the stock by a double tenou fitted to corresponding gains on each side of the stock. The handles I fasten together and to the stock and beam in the usual manner.

For separating and conveying the seed in proper quantities for hills from the mass in the hopper to the tube, (the hopper being a little forward of the tube,) I make a ratchet-wheel of cast-iron, (marked Z, Fig. 3,) which rotates on a pin, 70, through the center, having eight angular projections or cams on the lower part of the periphery, corresponding with the like number of apertures near the periphery, the apertures being each of the size to hold the required number of kernels for a hill.

Fig. 7, aview of the To prevent the seed from getting out of the apertures and to enable the operator to see every hill before it is dropped, I construct a wire screen, 10, by doubling around a wire bail or halfcircle a piece of tine screen-wire and then incasing them with sh'eetropper. On the ends of the bail I form eyes, by which I fasten the screen to to the back side of the hopper by staples, so as to lie on the wheel I. The screen marked to, Fig. 4, is kept down to the wheel I by the wire button marked 0, Fig. 4. The bottom of the tube I bevel to an angle of about forty-live degrees with the plane of the bottom of the plow. To the bevel I secure a valve,-(marked a, Fig. 2,) of castiron, a little larger than the hole, with an arm standing horizontal, or on a plane with the bottom of the plow,so thatwhen the arm is drawn up the valve n stands perpendicular, so as to prevent the seed from remaining on it when opened, and also to cause all the seed to drop v all at once instantly. The valve a is secured to the stock by a wire passing through it at the angle of the arm. 1 place the wheel I on the bottom of the hopper, so that one half of it is in the hopper, under the seed, the other half outside, betweenthe hopper and the top of the stock. In the back side of the hopper I out two gains directly over the apertures in the wheel I. The one under which the seed is brought out by the wheel I, I make one-half inch high by a little more than the width of the aperture, over which I secure a'stit't' brush, q, Fig. 5. The other gain I make one-fourth of an inch high by the same width of the other, to admit back into the hopper without clogging'any superfluous grains which may pass the brush q and get on the top otthe wheel Z. The false bottom (marked 1) in the hopper tits close to the top of the wheel l, covering it as far as the apertures. From the side of the hopper I cuta space sufficient to slip the wheel 1 out and in to its place.

For turning the wheel 1 and opening and shutting the valve n, I place an axis, 6, in the handles, between the rounds, near the center of which is attached the armf, to which is attached the rod 9 for driving the wheel I and the wire it for operating the valve it. Near one end of the-axis c is attached another arm, 0, which connects by the wire b to the handlever 64, by which the valve n is opened and the driving-rod g is drawn back; To the other end of the axis 6, I fasten a coiled-wire spring, .9, one end ot which is attached to the handle for the purpose of operating the axis 6 to drive the wheel 1 and shut the valve n. The handlever a, I make of iron, cast or wrought, having the fulcrum about one-third the length from the handle end. The driving-rod g vis held in the right range for striking the cams on the wheel L by passing through an eye in the head of an adjustable screw, 4, Fig. 3, which is screwed into the side of the stock far enough to cause the rod 9 to spring enough in drawing back to cause it to strike the cam on the wheel 1 when returning.

To prevent the velocity of the wheel I from carrying the apertures past the orifice of the tube without stopping, I put a pin,t', from the inside of the hopper down through the bottom on that side of the wheel 1, and far enough from it to admit the end of the rod 9 to pass between it and the wheel L, which prevents the rod g from springing out when the cam strikes it and causes the wheel I to react against the spring-pawlm, Fig. 3,'which serves the double purpose of eflectually filling all the apertures with seed, and also enables the operator to see each hill through the screen 10, said screen also keeping the seedin the cups of the wheel afterbeing filled until it is dropped into the orifice of the tube 17; It also prevents the seed from clogging in the apertures when it stops over the tube 17.

To limit the stroke of the rod 9 to the length of the space between cams on the wheel I, I form a guard or stop by fasteninga wireloop, d d, to the round which supports the handles in which the arm 0 plays.

To make the trench or furrow for the seed, I make a pointed double mold-board casting. as, level on the bottom, one foot long by four inches wide at the back end, and seveninches high, the sidesabout three-eighths of an inch thick, with a sharp edge in the middle, rising gradually from the point, for the purpose of combining strength and durability and for easily parting the soil, also causing it to run straight and steady.

For covering the seed and leveling andslightly packing the dirt, and also for gaging the thickness of dirt on the seed and preventing the plow from running too deep, I make in one piece with the plow a coverer or leveler, y, fourteen inches by seven, with. the corners rounded, the back edge being one and threefourths inch above the plane of the bottom of the plow, rising forward and compressing and separating, so as to form an opening to admit the stock, and joining'to the top and back end of the plow. Theopeningis also large enough back of the stock to admit the operation of the arm of the valve a. The plow I fasten to the stock by avbolt, the head of which holds a brace which is bolted to the beam. The coverer I also brace to the stock. 7

In working my machine the operator drops a hill athis pleasure instantly from the valve, which is within three inches of the bottom of the trench, by simply gripping the hand-lever with the right hand, when the springs on the end of the axis a reverses the motion, which shuts the valve n and drives the wheel 1 far enough to discharge the next succeeding aperture filled with seed into the orifice of the tube. For graduating the depth of trenching and gaging the thickness of dirt on the seed, hecarries his handles higher or lower, as "the case may require.

Having thus fully described my corn-planter, I would state that I do not claim the application of avalve to the bottom of a tube; neither do I claim the construction of a tube for the purpose of conveying seed from the hopper to the ground, for these principles have been variously applied for the same purpose invarious machines. Nor do I claim operating an axis by means of a hand-lever and spring attached to the handle of seed-planters, for these also have been used in other machines to effect different purposes, such as drawing slides, reciprocating plates, and opening apertures; but

\Vhat ldo claim as my inven tion, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- v The rotating ratchet-wheel Z, provided with feeding-apertures, in combination with the wire screen to, or its equivalent, the. springpawl m, guard-pin i, and wire button 0, acting in the manner and for the purpose herein described.

MALENDER BATES. Witnesses:

NATHAN BATES, JOHN HUDSTEAD. 

